Freedom Summer

The Path to empowered choices Starts Here.

Freedom Summer is where it all begins. We bring in top college students from across the country to lead our students for eight weeks in reading, writing, math, the arts, physical fitness, leadership, educational travel, and of course, lots of downright fun.

Each Summer Includes:

5 weeks of daily programming at our LEAD Center in Meridian

1 camping trip for each grade level

1 week of college immersion on a college campus

The First 5 Weeks Include:

We are at the LEAD Center in Meridian Monday – Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

In the mornings, Freedom Fellows engage in challenging reading, rhetoric, and math courses with their college interns.

We end this time with Freedom Day – a day to celebrate our accomplishments!

Each July, We Make the World our Classroom:

In our summer reading classes, students read about various historical events and locations throughout the south that are significant to the Civil Rights movement. In the month of July, our students travel on camping trips all over the south to those places to enrich their experience with their novels. In the past, our Freedom Fellows have traveled to Jackson, Selma, Birmingham, Memphis, and Little Rock.

As a capstone experience to complete the Freedom Summer experience, we spend a week on a collage campus, taking classes, living in dorms, meeting professors and students, learning about the college application and enrollment process, and of course, having TONS of fun.